Homecoming
by GemNika
Summary: AU. Cobra's a devoted single father, and he's never faced anything more terrifying than getting his sixteen year old daughter ready for her first school dance. Luckily, their neighbor across the hall is a woman who knows a thing or two about getting dressed up. But once his little Viper's out of the house, can he just go back to grading papers? Rated M for a reason. [Complete]


**A/N: While utterly uninspired to work on any of my current stories, I came up with this. I have no words.**

* * *

Erik 'Cobra' Vivas was, by all accounts, an intelligent man. For a good portion of his life, he'd reigned supreme. In school, both academically and socially - although, he had been surrounded by misfits and rejects - he was the fucking king. In college, even through his PhD, he'd crushed the competition with a solid 4.0 GPA. And when, just a month after he'd gotten a job at the university as a Chemistry professor, his girlfriend of three months had told him that she was pregnant, he'd been more than ready to do whatever he needed to, so he could be a great father.

What neither of them had realized at the time was that she wouldn't make it through the birth of their daughter. He hadn't known true fear until that very day, when he watched the woman he'd loved for years, his childhood friend who had finally gotten up the courage to ask him on a date a little under a year before then, fade before their daughter had even taken her first breath.

Kinana was the love of his life, and he'd lost her the day he'd become a father. They hadn't even chosen a name for the little girl, and suddenly, it all fell to him. The diapers and feedings, raising her, being there for every scraped knee and ballet recital. Each softball game.

Fighting the bastards in Little League when they said, "Girls can't play football." It had been so worth the restraining order when his daughter had gotten that piddly shit football team to the finals.

But, every day he looked at Marie, his little Viper, he could see the woman who'd once been his best friend. Her purple hair, her cheeks, her nose. His daughter was mostly him though, even down to the color of her eyes and the same deep tan.

She had her mother's heart and his sense of humor. The perfect combination of the two of them.

For sixteen years, he'd managed to keep his little princess (or sometimes the batshit crazy fucking monster she turned into) alive and, for the most part, happy. She was his whole world, and everything outside of her and his job at the university was thrown by the wayside when he realized that he had to make a choice. It was either keep trying to live life to its fullest, or put everything he had into making sure his daughter could do that for herself.

And now he was facing what had to be, hands down, the scariest thing in the world.

Fucking Homecoming.

While he was more than supportive of her every endeavor in school, from sports to music (although, he was definitely happy that she'd grown out of that saxophone phase, because that had been hell on his ears, and on the minimal grading curve for his students), student government to the creative writing club. Whatever his daughter wanted to do, he was right there behind her, rooting for her and willing to poison the everloving _shit_ out of anyone who dared to try and stop her.

Even when she'd said that she was going to run for Homecoming Queen, just because she thought it was time someone who wasn't a whore finally got the votes, he'd been behind her a hundred percent. Because, for all the good that his daughter did for her fellow students, she really wasn't at the top as far as popularity was concerned.

Then again, that was probably his fault.

The day she'd come home halfway through the day in tears during her freshman year, because some asshole senior who liked to smoke pot in the student parking lot when he should be in class had teased her about starting her period and the blood staining her pants, was still talked about at Fiore High. Cobra had consoled his daughter until he found out what had happened, then sped down to the school and nearly ran the bastard over with his car.

It took the school's security guard, principal, and two gym teachers to pull him from the scrawny green-haired teen, and all the while, Cobra had been bellowing threats of poisons so potent they would shrink his pathetically small dick and cover his body in pus-filled boils before burning holes through every organ and making him bleed from his pores.

It was even better when, two years later, that same kid ended up in one of his classes. He'd taken such a great amount of joy in failing the little prick - and, of course, it was well-deserved because of his poor grades (otherwise, it would have been unethical).

Then he'd been forced to apologize to his daughter for his behavior the next day when she came home to tell him that she was currently the school pariah. Luckily for Cobra, she'd appreciated the thought behind it all.

"Papa!" came the familiar voice of his daughter from down the hall.

"Coming, sugar!" Cobra capped his red pen and rubbed at his eye in exhaustion. The intelligence of his students was dwindling, he was sure. And just why he'd agreed to sponsor three grad students for their theses, he still wasn't sure.

"Papa, this was stupid!"

With a heavy sigh, he pushed away from the desk littered with essays. Cobra made his way through the apartment from the living room that also acted as his office, down the hall and stopped just outside of his daughter's mostly closed bedroom door. "Why's it stupid?"

"Because I don't know what I'm doing," she said.

"Viper," he sighed. "Is it safe for me to come in, or are you free-boobing right now?"

"I'm in a towel. Enter at your own risk."

He carefully pushed the door open and peeked inside, sighing in relief when he saw his teenage daughter sitting on her bed in a t-shirt and shorts. "Asshole," he chuckled. There wasn't even so much as a smirk on her thin lips, and his own small smile fell. "What's the matter?"

She vaguely gestured toward the dress that was hanging on the door of her closet. "I'm clueless, Papa. I don't know how this shit works."

"It's a dress," he said slowly while looking at the emerald vintage dress and matching heels on the floor, still in their box. "The heels, I get. Even your mom hated those."

"But… What if I look stupid?"

Cobra frowned and finally made his way into Marie's bedroom, then took a seat next to her. He watched as she pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. "You've never given a rat's ass about how you look, sugar," he said gently. "Why the sudden shits over it?"

"Because it's Homecoming," she muttered. "And, you _know_ I have a date and… I don't want to look silly. Or make Axel look like an idiot for agreeing to go with me."

Cobra blinked in surprise and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her into his chest and pressing his lips to her hair that was pulled up into a messy bun. This was definitely a sign that his little girl was growing up, and while he sure as hell didn't like the way it sounded - almost as though she'd asked someone herself instead of _being_ asked - he just didn't really know what the hell he was supposed to do about it.

"This is really important, huh?" he whispered.

"Yeah," she muttered. "I mean, sort of."

"Well, I can't promise I'll be a huge help, but…" He left the statement hanging, hoping with everything he was worth that the teen in his arms would tell him to fuck off. But Cobra already knew that she wanted his help. He always made sure that he was the one his little Viper could count on when she really needed someone.

' _Damn it all to hell… Why did I never ask Midnight for makeup tips?!'_

Cobra had been so sure that his daughter would be one of those girls who would just never be interested in the shit. Not once had she wanted to wear makeup and dress up like all the other girls. Even when he'd downright asked Marie if she wanted him to buy her dresses and skirts instead of jeans and t-shirts, she'd refused.

The first time she'd asked for a dress was for this godforsaken dance.

But, if it was important to her, then he was going to bite the bullet and try to not fuck this all up.

"Would you?" Marie whispered, tilting her head to look up into her father's single indigo eye. "I-I mean, I can try but… Uncle Midnight's away on business, and he told me he wouldn't be back until later this week."

"You called him?"

She nodded timidly. "He's even too busy to skype with me and walk me through it. And… he said to stay away from Youtube."

"A wise choice. You'll look like you're ready to star in a goddamn circle jerk if you listen to those psychotic wenches," Cobra growled.

"... Wow."

Cobra grinned at the blank expression on her face. "Come on, beautiful. Papa's gonna turn this sow's ear into a silk purse."

"My _Mulan_ phase passed nine years ago," Marie muttered.

"You made me watch that shit every single day," Cobra teased. "I'm allowed to make all the fucking references I want."

"If you say so, Papa," she giggled.

* * *

"Viper, sit still!"

"I can't," she groaned, wincing again. "Papa, you're pulling my hair!"

"Well, I'm trying, okay? You've got a much better shot at this shit than I do." He cringed while running the brush through a section of her waist-length purple hair, listening to the sudden cry of pain that burst past her lips when he hit another tangle.

"Papa!"

"Look, I'm sorry your hair's as thick as mine, okay?" he shouted. "Kina kept hers short all the time, so I never even saw her putting it up or anything else!"

He groaned as she smacked his hands away, taking a step back once she'd snatched the brush from him and started scrambling to run it through her recently washed hair. He cringed at the sight of her head being wrenched down with each rough stroke of the bristles catching on every tangle.

"I-I told you this was stupid," Marie sniffled.

"Wait, don't cry," Cobra pleaded. "Viper, c'mon… You never cry." That wasn't exactly true. She was pretty sensitive, truth be told, but his daughter did a damn good job of _not_ crying at the drop of a hat. Only when she was really upset and couldn't find a way to solve a problem.

"Papa, why am I-I such a damn _failure_ at this?!"

"At what?" he asked, bewildered. "You're smart, just like me and your mom. You're a damn laugh riot, and-"

"But I suck at just being a _girl_!" she screeched.

He hesitated in placing a hand on her shoulder when he saw tears in her eyes. Marie hadn't even gotten into her dress yet, and when he looked at the clock on her nightstand, he realized that she only had an hour before her date was supposed to arrive. With the way things were going, she'd need that and a whole lot more.

' _Now I understand why women take so fucking long to get ready…'_ Granted, it had been a little over sixteen years since he'd bothered with women in general. The last he'd been with was the mother of his child, his nearly grown fucking daughter. Still, Kinana had been just as bad as the next woman when it came to getting ready for a date.

"J-Just go," Marie sniffled.

"Vip-"

"GO!"

Cobra ducked when the sweet girl he'd raised turned and chucked the brush at his face. He wasn't a coward in any way, but he knew for a fact that she was turning into a fucking demon as he dashed out of her room. And it broke his damn heart when he heard her start all-out sobbing as he slammed the door and backed into the opposite wall in the hallway.

He needed help. Because if there was one thing the Chemistry professor knew about, it was volatile situations. Most of his experiments involved extremely unstable chemicals, and this was a whole lot more precarious than mixing different acids in a darkroom because even the smallest bit of light could make the shit explode.

He just had to figure out who the hell could help in this situation. Midnight was, of course, his first choice, but the bastard was off doing his goddamn job as a special effects artist on some film in another goddamn country.

Sorano would have been his next choice, except he hadn't talked to her since their second year in college.

' _Damn it all to fucking hell!'_ There were very few times that Cobra actually felt like a moron. Most of them had come with the territory of being a parent, though. With an IQ of over 170, it just wasn't in his nature to be a fish out of water with knowledge. But this shit...

"What the fuck do I do?" he whispered to himself.

He ran to the living room to grab his phone from under the strewn essays, cursing his habit of not stacking the fuckers neatly while in the middle of grading. Phone in hand, he opened his contacts and started scrolling through them, in search of _someone_ who could help his daughter.

The fact that he even considered contacting the fucking dean of the science department was a testament to his desperation. Doctor Milkovich would skin his ass alive if he called her, regardless of the dire situation he was in.

The sound of keys jingling in the hall outside of his apartment drew Cobra's attention to the door just when he realized that there were no women he was even acquainted with. A door opened and closed, and he dropped the stupid bit of technology while vaulting over the couch and rushing out of the apartment.

Just across the hall, at apartment 2B, Cobra ran into the door and started frantically pounding on the wooden surface. "Open up!" he shouted. "For the love of all that's fucking holy, just-"

The door swung open and the maroon-haired professor nearly toppled right inside the apartment. Somehow, he stood his ground and stared at the thirty-something blonde woman he'd only spoken to a handful of times at the mailboxes over the last six years.

"What the hell?"

"Please," he said, not thinking twice about the fact that he was grabbing her shoulders and giving her a desperate shake. "I need your help." Damnit, why couldn't he remember her name right then? Something with an L. Layla, maybe? Or Laura?

"Um… Doctor Vivas?" she said, wincing while prying his hands from her and taking a cautious step back into her apartment.

"Lucy!" he shouted. "Please, it's my daughter."

The blonde blinked in surprise and paused in closing the door to stare at him. "Your… daughter?"

He nodded and took a deep breath, swiping a hand over his face and up through his hair. "I need help, and you're the only woman I know."

Lucy couldn't help but stare at him. "I'm… How is that possible?"

"Not the point," he said. "Please… I'm begging you here. Can you come over and help her?"

"What's going on? Is she okay?"

"Fucking Homecoming," he spat. "And I'm clearly ill-equipped to handle the shit she's dealing with in there."

A gentle, understanding smile pulled at the blonde's lips. It was no secret to her, or anyone else in the building, that Cobra was a devoted father and willing to do anything for his sixteen year old girl. And really, she thought it was pretty adorable.

But, there was only so much a dad could do, and Lucy knew that Marie wasn't one for getting dressed up. "How much time do we have?"

"Less than an hour, and she's crying," Cobra said quickly. "And I'm pretty sure demons are going to start ripping down the goddamn walls, and-"

"Breathe," Lucy laughed. She reached into the apartment and grabbed her purse, then stepped out and locked the door. The two made their way across the hall and she bit her lip while standing in her neighbor's apartment. She'd only ever talked to him on occasion, just little bits of small talk in passing. She'd talked to Marie more often though.

Still, Lucy had never been inside the apartment across the hall, and she couldn't help but take a moment to look around at the very obvious workspace in one corner of the living room, one wall filled with framed pictures of Cobra with his daughter. But that was all she could see before his warm hand was wrapping around her wrist - surprisingly gentle, considering his bewildered state - and she was being dragged down a hall off to the left of the main room.

Cobra paused outside of Marie's room and let go of Lucy's arm, then took a deep breath while rapping his knuckles on the door. "Viper," he said softly. "Can I come in?"

"J-Just go, Papa… I was stupid for thinking this was a good idea."

Lucy's lips parted, and she froze when Cobra leaned his head on the closed door with a soft smile on his lips. He always looked so angry when she saw him.

"Sugar, you're a lot of things, but stupid sure as hell isn't one of them."

"What do you call _this_ , then?!"

"I'd say it's you wanting to be just like all the other girls for a change," he answered. "And you know I'm all for it, if that's what _you_ want." He waited for her response, then let out a slow breath before continuing. "Now, if you still wanna go to this dance, I've got someone here that can _actually_ fucking help you, instead of just turning this whole thing into a shit-show like I did with all my inept bullshit."

"Y-You're not inept, Papa," she laughed. "Just… Mildly retarded."

"Gee, thanks," he grumbled. "So, whaddya say? Lucy here's willing to help out."

There was a long stretch of silence before he pulled back from the door and it quietly slid open. A pair of bloodshot indigo eyes peeked out to take in the two adults in the hallway. Her father, still in his slacks and dress shirt from work, and their neighbor across the hall wearing a bright pink sports bra and black spandex capris.

Even in what was obviously workout clothing, she looked like a million bucks.

"H-Hi, Miss Lucy," Marie said with a timid smile.

"Hey, Viper," Lucy answered. "I heard you've got some dance tonight." Marie nodded and opened the door a little wider. Her hair had been pulled up into a bun once again, still clearly knotted and barely tamed. "I've got a little experience with stuff like this. Want some help getting ready?"

Marie bit her lip and glanced at her father before lowering her gaze to the ground. "I-I don't know," she muttered. "Nobody really wants me there, anyway, and… I don't want to waste your time."

Cobra frowned, but stayed silent as Lucy stepped forward. He watched the blonde wiggle her way into his daughter's room, then simply stared in surprise as the door was closed before he could follow her in. "Uh… Alright then."

If this meant that his daughter was going to the dance, then fine. As long as she was doing it because she really wanted to. So, all he could do was slowly make his way out to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee - he really didn't give a shit that it was "too late" in the day for caffeine, because he needed it.

With the coffee brewing, Cobra went back to his desk and sat down to start grading essays once again. He wasn't sure when this Axel kid would be showing up, exactly, but he already knew that he'd be a hot fucking mess of nerves if he didn't keep himself busy.

Because his little girl was getting ready for her first dance that wasn't some father-daughter shit at a college function he'd dragged her to. She'd be dancing with some handsy fucking teenager in a dress that he'd thought was too short even on the hanger - that was mainly because he knew it wasn't going to cover her from head to toe.

' _I feel so sorry for my students… I shouldn't be grading papers right now…'_

Cobra frowned and uncapped his red pen, then started circling errors rapidfire and writing comments in the margins of an essay he was grading. "Fucking moron," he muttered under his breath. "That's the wrong goddamn equation… Wrong citation… Copy-paste is _not_ your fucking friend, you idiotic son of a… We don't use MLA in Chemistry, you dippy fuck... Go back to your hippie _poetry slams_..."

No, it had nothing to do with his daughter. His students were just fucking stupid.

* * *

Forty-five minutes after sitting down at his desk, Cobra found himself sitting on the couch with some scrawny little mossy-haired punk at his side. At least the kid was dressed appropriately for homecoming in a suit. He was tempted to give brownie points to the kid for _also_ having a tie that matched Marie's dress.

"So, uh…"

Cobra turned from the essay he'd been marking all to hell on his lap, his single amethyst eye intense as it bored into Axel's skull.

"Y-You're a teacher," Axel said softly. "That's kinda cool."

"Professor," Cobra muttered. After a moment, his eye narrowed. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Grade?"

"I'm a junior, like Marie."

Cobra blinked slowly. That meant he was a grade ahead, and would graduate at the age of seventeen. "Honors?"

Axel nodded, fiddling with his hands in his lap. "I skipped two grades, then lost a year when my brother got into a car accident, joy-riding with me in the backseat."

Cobra looked over him once again. He looked familiar, but he just couldn't place why. "Who's your brother?"

"Barrett Andrews."

And that would be why. The boy at his side had the same goddamn hair as the one Cobra had nearly killed in the school parking lot a few years prior. The asshole who'd made fun of his little girl for something that was completely fucking natural and happened to pretty much every woman at some point in their lives - the _stain of shame_ , she'd called it.

"Tell me why you're taking my daughter to Homecoming," he said, an edge of anger in his voice while looking back down at the essay he was almost done grading. "And if I don't like your answer, I'll go through with the shit I threatened your fucking brother with."

"U-Um…"

Cobra bit back a smirk when he heard the tremble in the teenager's voice and how he audibly gulped.

"Sh-She asked me…?"

"And you didn't ask her, because?"

"W-Well, I… Uh…"

"I'm waiting."

"I-I thought you'd m-murder me?"

Cobra paused with his pen sitting on the page and looked at the boy next to him. "And you agreed, because you thought I _wouldn't_ fucking murder you if you didn't do the asking?"

"N-No, sir," Axel squeaked.

"Do you have a death wish?"

"N-No."

"Then _why_ did you agree when she asked?" Cobra capped his pen again, ignoring the large ink spot that had soaked into the page. Before Axel could answer, he set the pages on the coffee table, then leaned just a little closer to the shaking teen. "Don't think I don't know how fucking messed up you kids are," he hissed. "Everyone and their mother's seen _Carrie_ , and if my little girl comes home covered in pig's blood, or even remotely close to being upset, I will burn your house to the ground with you tied up in the goddamn basement."

Axel whimpered and tried to scoot away, his eyes widening as Cobra's hand snapped out and his fingers dug into his cheeks.

"I have this really bad habit of being overprotective, you see," Cobra whispered. "Because my little Viper's all I've got, and I'll be damned if I let some punk with baby shit hair fuck with her happiness." His hand tightened until Axel whimpered again, and he leaned in until he could smell the faint hint of peppermint from his toothpaste. "So, I'll ask you again. Why are you taking her to the fucking dance?"

"Uh, what are you doing?" Lucy asked as she stood at the end of the hall.

The maroon-haired professor's grip loosened as he turned to look at the woman who'd been helping his daughter get ready. "Just having a chat. Is she ready?"

Lucy smiled kindly. "Almost. I have to run to across the hall for something real fast."

Cobra nodded and let go of Axel's face, picking up the essay once again. He listened to the door open and close, then several minutes passed in silence before Lucy came back and made her way to Marie's room. "I'm still waiting, kid."

Axel took a deep breath and rubbed at his still sore cheeks. "I'm taking your daughter because she asked me," he answered. "And she asked _me_ because she knew I was too scared to ask her instead."

"And you _wanted_ to ask her?"

Axel nodded when he was spared a single glance from the man. "Yeah, she's on the yearbook with me. Marie's pretty cool, and… I just kinda suck around girls, but she's like one of the guys so I can talk to her."

Cobra paused once again to look at the boy next to him. That shit sounded familiar as hell. Painfully familiar, actually. He'd been awkward as hell around girls when he was a teenager. It was why he acted like an asshole back then. Now, he just really liked doing it. But suddenly things were put in a little better perspective for him. While most kids his daughter's age were hormonal little fucking monsters, and the boys were all (for the most part) obsessed with trying to stick their dicks in everything they came across, not everyone was like that.

He hadn't been like that when he was sixteen.

But, then he thought about Marie yet again. For the first time in years, she wanted to be just like other girls. The last time she'd been even remotely interested in something even close to "girlie" was when she'd found out that her mother was a ballerina. Three years of dance lessons later, Marie decided it wasn't worth the pain in her feet, or the blisters.

When he thought back, though, Cobra also remembered the time she'd rode the bus down to the university and sat in during one of his night lectures. She'd made sure to show up on time for it (because his daughter knew he hated having people walk in or out in the middle of a lesson) and took a seat right at the podium. When she was just thirteen, his daughter had gone through all that trouble, waiting for three whole hours and listening to him talking about diatomic molecules and the empirical formula, just so she could ask him why boys didn't like her.

His answer back then had been that boys were idiots, but she'd pushed until he gave her a real answer. He was always so proud of how she didn't take anyone's bullshit excuses.

And when she'd kept pushing, he finally told her something that had taken him a long time to figure out, something that Kinana had had to explain to _him_ one night when she was five months pregnant.

" _Viper, boys your age don't usually like girls that are like them, but that's not to say there's anything wrong with you."_

" _What do you mean then?" she asked, her head lowered._

 _Cobra knelt down and hooked a finger under her chin, then gave her a soft smile. "I mean, if you wanna be one of the guys, then that's fine. You just have to understand that it takes us guys a while to figure shit out, like seeing that the girl we're always hanging out with or who kicks our asses in fucking Tekken is actually STILL a girl."_

" _But…"_

" _Your mom was the same way, sugar," he said gently. "She was my best friend for years, and I never saw her as anything but 'one of the guys' until she asked me out. I thought it was just to hang out, but then she showed up at the restaurant wearing this beautiful green dress that made her eyes pop, and that was it. She had my ass hook, line, and sinker because she MADE me see that she wasn't just 'one of the guys'."_

" _So I should be more like everyone else?"_

" _Hell no," he chuckled. "Just be yourself, and have fun with what you're doing. If you wanna be a cheerleader, then go for it. But, if you'd rather be on the field, playing the game and getting cheered for, or even sitting in the stands and just writing about it all, then do that instead."_

" _So, guys will just never like me."_

" _They will," he said, swiping away a stray tear before it could get too far down her cheek. "The right one will come along, and he'll see you for you. Whether you're in jeans or dresses, the right guy won't give a flying fuck about that. And probably some girls, too."_

" _So, does it make me gay?" she winced. "Because I do boy stuff?"_

" _Nope," he said with a smile. "You're Marie, plain and simple. My precious little Viper. If you like girls and not boys, then fine. That's genetics, in your DNA, and there's nothing we can do to change that. Still, you're only thirteen, so I think you shouldn't worry too much about who you like anyway. Save that for when you're older."_

 _Marie nodded and wrapped her arms around Cobra's shoulders. "Mmkay, Papa." After a moment, she whispered, "If I like girls though… would you be mad?"_

" _Hell no," he said. "You like whoever you like, Viper. Uncle Macbeth likes boys, and he's still my best friend, right?"_

" _Yeah…"_

" _So, boys or girls. Or even if you like them both. Doesn't matter to me. As long as you're happy."_

And here his daughter was, ready to prove to someone she knew that she was, in fact, still a girl even though she hardly acted like one. Even though she'd inherited her mother's figure - something that Cobra had cried about when he'd taken her to go buy training bras, and again when she said they were getting too small - his little tomboy, part princess and part fucking superhero and football player and writer and master of button-mashing in fighting games, was doing just what he'd always taught her. She was going for it.

So, he let out a slow breath that he was sure took a part of his fucking soul with it, then looked at the teenager waiting to take his daughter to her first school dance. "Do me a favor, then," he whispered.

Axel nodded quickly.

"Make sure Viper has a good time tonight," Cobra sighed. "She-"

They froze at the soft sound of a throat clearing from the other side of the room, and Cobra and Axel shifted their gaze to the hallway leading to Marie's room, only to find Lucy standing there with a bright, cheery smile. Still in her sports bra, spandex capris, and hot pink and black running shoes.

"I'd like to present the positively vivacious, yet still _totally_ PG-13, Viper Vivas," she announced, stepping to the side.

Marie walked into the living room, a slight blush on her cheeks, and looked between her father and her date. She paused only a moment later when she saw both of them staring at her with their mouths hanging open. "Um…"

Cobra had no fucking clue how he was supposed to handle this shit. His daughter _looked_ like a grown fucking woman all of a sudden. The emerald dress with wide straps over her shoulders, a cinched waist, and billowing silk that hung down to her knees hadn't looked nearly this good in the store, or even on the damn mannequin.

' _She looks just like Kina…'_ Her makeup was perfect, much better than what he'd done and what she'd inadvertently cried off before Lucy came over. And rounding it all out was a beautiful diamond choker that he knew his daughter didn't own.

Even after all this time, it still sent pain lancing through his chest at the thought of the woman he hadn't even gotten the chance to marry not being around to see their little girl growing up.

Axel stood and walked past Cobra, smiling as he came to stand in front of Marie. "You, uh… You look great," he whispered.

Marie smiled and lowered her head bashfully. "I feel like a fucking moron," she muttered.

Lucy bit her lips when Axel chuckled and shook his head, discreetly pulling out her phone to take pictures of the moment. Considering her neighbor was still just sitting on the couch and staring at his daughter, she felt it was only appropriate to document it for him.

"You could wear a garbage bag and have rats living in your hair, and I'd still think you're awesome," Axel said.

"Dildo," Marie laughed.

"Probably, but I'm an awesome dildo. Like, porn-quality."

"Not even the crappy B-rated," Marie nodded. "Definitely top-level smut."

Lucy's smile faltered slightly when she heard what the teens were talking about, and she looked back over at Cobra as he stood up and walked over to his daughter.

"Alright, enough of that shit, you little creepers," Cobra chuckled. "Lemme get some pictures, then you can go. Tear up the town and all that."

"Explosions?" Marie asked, smiling while Axel's arm wrapped around her and Lucy stepped forward to take a quick snapshot with her phone.

"Yes, but keep them minimal," Cobra answered. "And I expect documentation of the chemicals you used, if you go that route."

"Grand theft?" Marie giggled when she was pulled into her father's arms and Lucy took another picture.

"Bring me back something good."

"Murder?" Axel asked with a raised brow. He gulped when Cobra glared at him.

"No murders," Cobra growled. After a moment, he gave the two teens a dark grin. "Gotta have _some_ boundaries, right?"

"When's Marie's curfew?" Axel asked. "So I know when to bring her back without getting a hit put on me…"

Cobra's lips quirked when his daughter's cheeks flushed even further. "Midnight sounds about right."

"Papa, I never have a curfew."

"Well, you're getting one tonight." Instantly, her eyes lit up with understanding. She knew he meant that he wanted her to check in, and if she needed him, he would come get her. And that she had until midnight to call him, otherwise he would be sending out a damn search party looking for the one who'd killed her and dumped her body in a ditch.

Because, no matter how much Cobra thought of Marie as his little girl, he trusted her to make the right decisions. And, of course, he had a savings account already set aside specifically for bail money… Just in case she ever got arrested. But, more likely, in case _he_ got arrested for beating up some pompous little dickass who'd hurt his baby girl.

Lucy shook her head and continued taking pictures while Cobra wished the teens a good night. She smiled as they waved back at her, watching as Cobra closed the door behind them and dropped his head to the wood after a single breath.

"You're my hero," he whispered. His eye closed as he felt the all-too familiar burn of tears prickling the corners. He still couldn't believe his daughter was going to that damn dance. "Full-on Batman-level hero."

"Sorry," Lucy laughed quietly. She waited until his head turned toward her, grinning once his only eye was open again. "My cape is still at the dry cleaner."

A short, huffing laugh escaped him. Cobra slowly pushed away from the door and swiped his palm over his eye just in case it was still glistening, then turned toward Lucy fully. Once he did, he realized that she was wearing hardly anything. What little clothing his neighbor had on, seemed to be vacuum sealed to her body. "Well, you've got the spandex, at least. That's gotta count for something."

Lucy blinked in confusion and looked down at herself. Her face turned an unnatural shade of red when she realized that she had, in fact, just come back from her post-writing jog and hadn't taken the time to change. "O-Oh my god," she whispered. Her head shot up when she heard a second, slightly weary laugh escaping her neighbor. "I'm sorry. I, um… I don't normally dress like this, and… I was just more concerned with helping Marie, a-and-"

"It's fine," Cobra said, waving away her concerns. "Not like she hasn't seen it before. The tv's constantly pumping out shit with women wearing less than you are right now."

Lucy's arms crossed over her bare stomach, and she gave him a sheepish smile. "Still, you probably don't want your daughter spending time with someone prancing around in practically their underwear… God, this is mortifying."

Cobra sighed as he walked back over to the couch to grab his cup of coffee. "Again, it's fine." Once he was seated and had taken a long gulp of the mostly cold, black liquid, he said, "Thank you for this, though. You really saved my ass today."

Lucy shrugged and hesitantly took a seat on the opposite end of the couch. "Marie's a good kid, and I know how hard it is not having a mom around for stuff like this." She watched as Cobra's shoulders slumped just a little while he set the mug on top of an essay. "My mom died when I was little, so it was just me and my dad for a long time."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said. "But yeah, it's hard as hell on both of us. I don't even know if I'm doing this right half the time. And I know she's really needed a mom to help her sort through shit." Midnight was the closest thing his daughter had to a female role model, sadly. It worked, in a way, but Cobra knew it wasn't the same.

"I think you're doing a great job raising her," Lucy said. She smiled when he looked at her, and right then she could see the same look her father had countless times. Weariness and buckets of doubt. "Sometimes when you're still working, she comes over and asks me to proofread her writing."

"She… does?" His daughter had, thankfully, found her niche in creative writing. While most of his colleagues at work mocked the Humanities department for all their "lazy, poetic nonsense" - and he was guilty of it as well from time to time - Cobra was of the firm belief that art was just as important as science. Well, any art that his daughter was involved in was as important as science, at least. He just wished she'd let him actually read the shit she wrote instead of locking it in a goddamn safe in her bedroom.

Lucy nodded, her smile growing wider. "I love reading her work, y'know. It's all so vivid, so emotional."

"She never lets me read anything she writes," he said softly.

"That's because you're the one she's writing it for," Lucy answered in an instant. "She doesn't want you to see it until it's perfect. No matter how many revisions she has to go through."

He leaned back into the couch and rubbed his hands over his face. "Well, I don't wanna keep you, Lucy. I'm sure you've got shit to do, and I've got papers to grade."

The blonde bit her lip while looking over to the desk piled high with papers, then the coffee table holding even more. Some with red markings and notes in the margins, others perfectly pristine. "I don't really have anything to do," she said slowly. "You actually saved me from a Friday night of binge-watching Netflix and baking cookies to shove in my face once they cooled down."

Cobra chuckled. "Then I'm definitely sorry. I've heard Netflix and cookies is a fabulous way to spend your time."

"Oh, it is," she laughed. "But you should know that, right? I'm sure you've spent plenty of time getting your Netflix on."

He gazed at the blonde and shook his head. "Nope. I never have the time for it." At her confusion he added, "It's been me and Viper since she was born. Her mother died right after she gave birth, so…"

"So, you've been doing it on your own from the get-go," Lucy frowned. "And… you never go out to just have fun?"

Cobra shook his head again while staring at the blonde woman who lived across the hall. All he really knew about her was that she was a writer, had moved into the building six years prior, and was somewhere in her thirties. She definitely didn't look it, though. All he was sure of was that she wasn't pushing forty-two, like him. "Between work and Viper, there's no time for anything else," he said. "Besides, I have plenty of fun spending time with her, so it's good."

"And what are you gonna do while she's at the dance?" Lucy asked.

"Work."

"And when she gets home?"

"Ask how her night was, plot the murders of anyone who may have upset her if necessary, then more work after she's in bed. And grading tests tomorrow, more essays, meet with my doctoral candidates to - science willing - bring them to tears with edits they need to make on their theses." He paused. "Sleep will happen somewhere in there, I think."

Shaking her head, Lucy moved a little closer to the Chemistry professor and placed a gentle hand over his on the cushion between them. "Your daughter's getting older, y'know," she said gently. "Maybe it's time you started trying to live life again."

"No point," he whispered. "Once the nest is empty, it's all work."

"This might be a little personal," Lucy winced, "But what about finding someone?"

He shook his head again, running his free hand through his hair. "Kinana was it for me," he said. "I lost her, and that's that. I just haven't seen the point in wasting my few precious moments of time alone, trying to fill it with someone else."

Lucy nodded in understanding, lightly patting his hand before pulling her own away. "Well, if it's any consolation, the dating world is still as stupid as it was back in high school. And marriage isn't a whole lot better."

Cobra snorted and rolled his eye, his head lolling to one side to look at the blonde. "And what would you know about marriage?"

"Only that I've done it twice, and both times were complete and utter failures." Still, even with the sudden widening of his eye, she smiled. "High school sweetheart, turned out to be a cheater. Then I waited a couple years, and snagged myself another _super winner_ who decided that bashing my skull into the side of a parked police car was the recipe for a good time on our second wedding anniversary."

"... A police car…"

Lucy shrugged. "He thought being a cop would let him get out of trouble. My brother paralyzed him from the neck down, and now the needle-dicked fucker is in prison with a colostomy bag."

Cobra snorted once, then a second time, and a third until he was downright laughing at the mental image of a vegetable in the slammer. "I feel like I should be scared of your brother," he finally said.

Lucy grinned. "Ever heard of the Thunder God?"

"He's an MMA guy, right?" When she nodded, he blinked and his smile fell. "Your brother's an MMA fighter."

"Half-brother, but yeah. Not everyone has scary dads to come to the rescue," she laughed. "Some of us have big brothers instead." The two sat in comfortable silence for several minutes, before she let out a slow breath and got ready to stand. "Well, I should probably let you get back to work. I know my agent's gonna be pissed if I don't try to keep my deadline, so I should probably get some work done too."

"Yeah," Cobra nodded, looking at the stacked papers on the table. He stood when Lucy did and walked her to the door, then across the hall to her own apartment, leaving his front door wide open. "Thanks again," he whispered. "I don't know how I can ever repay you for this."

"Don't worry about it," she smiled. "I'm glad I could help. Just tell Marie to pop by sometime to return the necklace."

"Sure thing. You didn't have to let her borrow it though."

"I know," she laughed. "But it was my mom's and I never wear it. Plus it went with her dress."

Cobra nodded, watching as she unlocked the door. "Well, if you ever need a favor… Someone needs poisoning, or anything… I'm right across the hall."

"I'll keep that in mind, Doctor Vivas."

With a small smile, he whispered, "My name's Erik."

"Then, I'll keep that in mind… Erik," Lucy said softly. "Enjoy the essays."

"Enjoy the calories," he chuckled. With that, she walked into her apartment, and he turned on his heel to make his way back inside. Once the door was locked behind him, and he'd checked his phone to make sure the battery was fully charged and the ringer was on in case Marie called him early, Cobra sat down to continue grading papers.

Two hours later, a series of pounding knocks at the door drew his attention from the final essay on the coffee table. With a soft curse, he stood and made his way to the door, then threw it open with a malevolent glare at the person on the other side. One that faded once he saw a head of blonde hair and familiar honey eyes, widened in fear while she shook like a leaf.

"H-Hey," Lucy said sheepishly.

"Are you okay?" He was definitely thankful that she was currently wearing a pair of yoga pants and an oversized shirt, clearly in the standard 'comfy clothes' phase of the night.

"So, would it be okay for me to cash in that favor now?"

He blinked slowly and stepped back, opening the door to invite her in. "What's up?"

"Well," Lucy sighed, "This is gonna sound stupid, but um…"

"I doubt it's any more stupid than the shit I've been reading," he said, motioning for her to take a seat on the couch. When she paused, he cursed and rushed around the side to pick up the stack of papers he'd already graded. It really was one of his worst habits, but thankfully he never lost papers. They just ended up everywhere, and he had to make sure he grabbed them all before leaving the house.

Lucy sat down, waiting for her neighbor to sit as well. "Well, I was watching a movie, and I kinda got the shit scared out of me," she said with an awkward laugh. "And now I keep thinking someone's going to come in and murder me."

"And you want me to… do what, exactly?"

"Maybe let me hang out over here?" Lucy winced. "If you haven't had dinner yet, I can order something."

"You… want to call in a favor because you're scared," he said slowly. "From a movie."

"It's Rob Zombie's fault, okay?" she pouted. "I love his movies, but… This one's just…"

Cobra watched as the blonde shuddered and rubbed her hands over her arms, the chills she'd gotten visible in the form of little goosebumps that raised across her flesh.

"I know you're busy," she said softly. "And I hate to bother you, but I'm seriously freaked the hell out."

"From a movie," he said again.

"Yes," she groaned. "It's terrifying!"

"It's a movie. They're not scary." Granted, he hadn't taken the time to actually watch a movie that his daughter hadn't picked out first in well over a decade, but that wasn't the point. And Marie, for all the wonderful things about her, just wasn't a fan of horror films. They gave her the heebie-jeebies and had her screaming her fucking face off. Stephen King's _It_ had her quite literally pissing her pants and refusing to leave the safety of her room for the whole summer, for fear that the clown in the gutter was going to drag her down and eat her.

But Cobra loved horror movies. He was just painfully backlogged on actually watching them.

"I'll prove it," Lucy scowled. "Watch it with me, and you'll be screaming in no time."

"While I'd love to waste some time by watching buckets of blood being thrown across a screen, I'll have to pass."

"Chicken," Lucy taunted, though her voice was still shaking.

Cobra froze and glared at the blonde. "I'm far from a fucking chicken."

"Watch it, then."

"It scared you enough to come over here and ask me to fucking babysit you," he said. "Why the hell would you want to watch it again?"

"Because I won't be _alone_ in a dark apartment watching carnies being held hostage and tortured by clowns," she said with a firm nod. After a moment, she scooted a little closer and grabbed his hand. "Erik, if you really don't want to watch it, then fine. But… Please? I won't bother you, I just… I don't wanna be alone right now."

"What about your brother?" he asked.

"He's with his boyfriend out of the country," she whispered. "Some movie shoot, combined vacation thing. I don't know."

"Girlfriends?"

"With their kids, husbands, drinking, working…" Lucy sighed and shook her head. She really wasn't one for drinking, not like Cana was, anyway. "They're all busy."

"Well, don't you have a boyfriend or something?" he asked.

"No. I haven't dated anyone since Jackal almost killed me three years ago. I'm kinda too scared to even try now."

"... Oh."

Lucy took a shaky breath while standing up. "This was stupid," she whispered, forcing a smile. "I'll be alright."

"Lucy," he frowned.

"No, it's okay. You've got work to do, and I'd just get in the way anyway." She made it halfway to the door before lightly calloused fingers wrapped around her hand to stop her.

Cobra's frown deepened when he felt just how badly Lucy was shaking, even as she turned to give him a smile that he was sure would fool most people into thinking she was alright. Based on his own personal knowledge of females, from having to decode his daughter's discreet signs that she was upset at times over the years, he knew the blonde was anything _but_ alright.

"I like pizza without sauce," he whispered. "And I don't care for anchovies."

Lucy's smile faltered slightly in confusion.

"And… It's been awhile since I could watch a good horror movie, since Marie's scared shitless of them."

"But, you have work to do," she said.

His grip on her hand tightened marginally, and he gave his neighbor a small, timid smile. One that hadn't made an appearance in sixteen years. "I think it might be a good idea for me to take a break for a little bit. It's been brought to my attention that I haven't done that in a long time."

Lucy's eyes flashed with understanding, and her smile brightened in an instant. "You'd really wanna watch it with me?"

"Why not?" Cobra chuckled. "I've gotta prove I'm not a chicken, right?"

Lucy nodded quickly, then grasped Cobra's hand. "I'll make the call for food and get the movie." She paused in turning toward the door once again with a sly grin. "I'd suggest clearing off the table though. We don't need pizza grease getting all over those essays."

"Fuck the essays," he laughed.

Lucy rolled her eyes and walked to the door, pausing once again with her hand poised above the knob. "Oh, and get out of those _work_ clothes. It's nine at night. The sweatpants hour is upon us."

Cobra frowned and looked down at himself while Lucy walked out of the apartment. What the hell was wrong with his clothes? Okay, so maybe he hadn't changed out of the shit he'd worn to his morning class, but slacks were fucking comfortable. After spending almost two decades wearing the damn things every day, from the time he woke up until passing out at night, he was used to them.

But, Cobra guessed Lucy had a point. He wasn't going to be in teacher mode right then, and he _did_ have a rather extensive collection of flannel pajama pants he'd been meaning to wear. Courtesy of his daughter's firm belief that every gift-giving holiday was an excuse to give him fucking pajamas. He was sure she did it at this point just to be a fucking troll.

So, the Chemistry professor gathered all the papers from the coffee table and took them over to his desk, then made his way to his bedroom to get changed. Minutes later, wearing a pair of dark red flannel pants and a simple white t-shirt, Cobra walked back to the living room and found Lucy sitting on the couch with a large bowl of popcorn and a platter of chocolate chip cookies on the clean table, and a large, black fuzzy blanket folded on the couch next to her.

Lucy smiled and held out the case holding her movie. "I didn't know how your setup worked, so I figured it'd be best to wait."

"Makes sense. What'd you order?" He took the case and made his way over to the television to get everything set up.

"Large, no sauce, all the meats," Lucy said.

"And the thousand pounds of food on my table already?"

"Figured it'd be better if it didn't all go to waste," Lucy shrugged. "This was going to be my dinner."

"You sound like one of my fucking students," he laughed while making his way over to the couch. "Are you sure you're not twenty-something?"

"Nope," she giggled when he sat down next to her. "I'm thirty-six. But don't tell anyone."

"Who the hell would I tell?"

"I dunno, but the pizza guy thinks I'm in my twenties, so he always gives me a discount."

"Well, mum's the word," Cobra chuckled. "I won't take away the cougar discount."

"Oh, fuck you," Lucy laughed. Without thinking, she lightly (sort of) punched Cobra in the side, then bit her lips when he grunted and stared at her in shock. "S-Sorry."

"Jesus, I can tell your brother beats people for a living," he wheezed.

Before the blonde could respond, there was a knock at the door that signalled the arrival of their food. She grinned and jumped up from the couch, then answered the door. "Hey, Dan the Pizza Man."

"Hey, Lucy. Visiting the neighbor?"

"Yep. We're watching scary movies."

"Ten bucks, beautiful."

Cobra rolled his eye at the obvious deepening of the delivery guy's voice. He and Marie had ordered enough pizza to know all the drivers by name. And Dan was, in his honest opinion, a fucking tool. Also, he'd made the mistake of hitting on Marie once, and Cobra had gone batshit crazy over it and nearly got the eighteen year old fired.

"Try not to have too much fun, Lucy."

"More like try not to scream too loud," she laughed. "See ya, Dan." She closed the door and walked back toward the couch, holding the pizza box and opening it with a flourish once she was seated again. "I come bearing the unhealthiest of pizzas," she said.

"Good god," Cobra whispered, his eye widening in horror at the amount of meat piled on the damn thing. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to kill me with this shit."

"Only so I can hide your body in various dumpsters across the city," Lucy grinned. Based on how she'd heard Cobra and his daughter talking to one another here and there over the years, plus what she'd witnessed earlier when she and Axel were still there, Lucy felt like it was perfectly appropriate to let her slightly more demented humor out of her mouth for a change. More often than not, she saved it for her writing.

"You're so considerate."

"Of course I am. I got you pizza, brought cookies and popcorn, _and_ the super fuzzy blanket my almost brother-in-law bought for me last Christmas."

He watched as Lucy set the box in a perfectly sized space on the table - almost as though she'd known just how much space needed to be there beforehand - then reached across her to feel the blanket.

"This is like the shit Midnight got for Viper."

"... Midnight?" Lucy whispered.

"Her uncle. Well, my best friend from back when we were kids."

"He doesn't… maybe have black and white hair, does he?"

Cobra froze and stared at the blonde. "Yeah?"

"Does the whole glam rock thing, even though he's in his forties?"

"Yeah."

She rolled her eyes and reached down into her purse to snag her phone from the inner pocket, then unlocked the screen and opened her gallery. Once she'd selected a picture of Laxus and his boyfriend from a few months back, she turned the screen toward her neighbor. "My brother's boyfriend."

Cobra frowned and grabbed the phone, rubbing his eye as he tried to assimilate the image on the screen with what he knew of his best friend. Midnight did _not_ go for huge muscled guys, at least not in the time they'd known each other. But there he was, with a hulking blonde man's arm winding around his much smaller body from behind, the two of them staring at the camera with barely visible smiles. "I'm kicking his ass," he muttered.

"Who, Laxus?"

"No. Midnight. That scrawny little shit never told me who he was dating."

Lucy snickered and put her phone away, then reached into the pizza box and grabbed a slice. "They've been on and off for a couple years," she said before taking a bite.

With a roll of his eye, Cobra grabbed one remote to turn off the lights in the living room, then a second to start the movie.

"I can't wait to hear you scream," Lucy chuckled as he grabbed a slice of pizza.

"Fuck you, asshole," he snorted. Still, he couldn't help but be just a little impressed as the opening credits started rolling. The haunting music paired with soft scrapes of metal on wood, and rattling chains, all combined with quick flashes of gory crime scene photos in black and white with high contrast. That shit actually gave him chills.

* * *

Cobra still wasn't entirely sure how it had happened, but somewhere between the flat-chested blonde with wild, curly hair beating a clown to death with a pipe, and another carnie sending a chainsaw sailing through someone's chest, Lucy had ended up on his lap. Just curled up in a ball and watching the movie through her fingers.

The blanket he'd turned down had been wrapped around her instead while they'd watched the movie, and somehow it had come along with her during her leap into his arms. And now it was tangled around both of them.

Most of the popcorn had been eaten, along with all of the pizza. The cookies remained mostly untouched, because by the time they would have been ready to move on to the sweet stuff, Cobra and Lucy were in a tangle of trembling limbs and their eyes were wide in fucking terror.

"Oh my god," Lucy whimpered. "D-Don't go in there…"

"Bitch is going in there," Cobra whispered back. "Oh fuck… She's so dead." His grip on the blonde tightened as the scene continued, and he was surprised to find his adrenaline pumping and his heart pounding away as though _he_ was on the verge of getting his ass sliced open by a psychotic clown like the stupid brunette was right then.

And then it happened. He screamed like a little bitch, right along with Lucy, as a dead body slammed into the screen with the skin mostly flayed.

Lucy would have jumped right out of her damn skin if it wasn't for Cobra pulling her tightly against him and tucking her head under his chin. "Turn it off!"

"Hell no!"

"Turn it off!" she whimpered.

He could tell how terrified she was, and while he was freaked right the hell out by the utterly sadistic shit that was happening on his television, he couldn't look away. Like a train wreck, or one of those horrific accidents on the freeway, he was glued to the screen. Still, as the scene changed to something a little less terrifying, of the blonde woman walking through a greasy, dripping hallway with poor lighting, his fingers sifted through Lucy's hair and lightly trailed across her scalp.

"It's okay now," he whispered. "Lucy, it's fine. Just a movie, remember?"

She nodded shakily and looked up into his eye, her breath catching as he gently tucked her bangs behind one ear. "Thanks, Erik."

"No problem," he smirked. "I'll keep the crazy clowns away."

Lucy nodded again and snuggled closer as her gaze shifted back to the television. She cringed and shrunk into his embrace every time someone was killed. And thankfully, Cobra held her a little tighter every time she did it. He tucked her head under his chin and made sure she couldn't see a thing when she started whimpering again.

Lucy was thanking every god imaginable by the time they made it through to the end of the film, and she couldn't have been happier that he shut the damn thing off and switched on the most ridiculous, happy-happy rainbow unicorn shit she'd ever seen. Never in her life had Lucy been so glad to see a damn My Little Pony.

"There is something seriously wrong with you," Cobra muttered. "My ass is gonna be having nightmares for years."

"R-Right there with you," she cringed. "N-Never again."

"Wait, are you gonna cry?" he frowned.

Lucy shook her head and buried her face against his neck. "N-No…"

"You are," he teased. When Lucy shrunk in on herself and shook her head again, he couldn't help but laugh just a little bit while rubbing a hand over her shoulder. "Hey, I kept you safe, didn't I?"

Lucy nodded and slowly lifted her head to look into his single eye again. "Super safe," she whispered. His smile was something she'd never seen before that night, but it was the dimples in his cheeks that did her in. She was a sucker for dimples. In that moment, all Lucy could see was a dangerously attractive man who somehow made having only one eye - with a long scar running from his forehead to his cheek - look downright sexy.

"Nearly pissing myself aside, this was great," he said while gazing down at the blonde.

"Really great," she said.

Cobra saw the dazed look in her wide eyes, and moved forward to press his lips to hers. Just as quickly as it had happened, he pulled back. "Shit," he hissed. What in the actual fuck had possessed him to do that?! God, he was an idiot. "I shouldn't ha - _Mmph_!" His lips were covered in an instant, his eye widening as her hands tangled in his hair. His hands tightened on her shoulder and what he suddenly realized was the bare skin of her hip to push her away.

And then her tongue swiped across his lips and plunged between them. For the first time since his daughter had been born, a woman's lips were on his and her legs were shifting until she was straddling him.

Hands moving of their own accord, Cobra felt her soft skin gliding under his fingertips while dipping under the hem of her shirt. He'd never so much as looked at another woman the way he had before with Kinana, and maybe it was simply a matter of his body rebelling against his self-imposed sixteen-year celibacy. Whatever the reason, Cobra couldn't find it in himself to pull away any longer.

Lucy gasped when the clasp of her bra popped faster than any man had ever managed before. She'd barely felt his fingers drifting higher on her back before the material was loosened and the straps were sliding down her shoulders. _'Damn, and I'm wearing my ugly panties!'_

Their lips parted just long enough for Cobra to pull her shirt up and over her head. They met again in a frenzy as Lucy reached down to remove his shirt after tossing her bra somewhere into the room. Once his chest was bare, Cobra shifted and flipped the blonde down onto the couch, a wicked grin curling his lips when she squeaked in surprise.

Just as his hand curved around the swell of her breast, and the blonde broke away from his lips on a shuddering moan, he paused. _'What the hell am I doing?'_

"Wait," Cobra rasped. She nearly knocked him on his ass as she smiled and licked her already kiss-swollen lips. "We shouldn't."

"Maybe not," Lucy whispered. Her hands slid along the elastic waistband of his pants, then over his stomach that was too damn toned for him to be a single father. God, he looked delicious, even with the only light illuminating his lightly defined muscles coming from the television across the room. "But, I've gone three whole years with nothing but my fingers, and it's not the same."

"Try sixteen with some lotion and a hand," he whispered. "But… W-We _really_ shouldn't keep going."

"Why?"

Cobra groaned and clamped his eye shut as her fingers massaged down the length of his spine. With no further prompting, his hips rocked into her, forcing his growing arousal to grind shamelessly against her clothed core. "Because… U-Um…"

"So articulate," Lucy giggled. After a moment, she paused and frowned up at him when she realized that he was frozen in place. "Erik…?"

Cobra shook her hand away as she lightly stroked his cheek. "Look," he whispered, gazing down at her again. "I'm not like this. Acting like a couple of kids and hooking up on a goddamn couch."

"Well, I'm not either," she winced. "I just thought… Y'know… You wanted to, and…"

"I've got a _daughter_ ," Cobra insisted. "I'm not fun like normal people. I've spent all this time, making sure I did everything for her, and… I-I don't even really know what the hell I'm doing anymore…"

"It's sex," she shrugged. "It hasn't changed."

Cobra shook his head again with a heavy sigh. "You don't get it," he whispered. "I haven't even kissed someone since Viper's mom."

Lucy smiled in understanding, pressing her fingers to his lips, then brushing them across his scarred cheek. "Erik, if you don't want to, then that's fine. I get it."

"It's not that I don't _want_ to," he said. His eye trailed down over the swell of her breasts, his mouth watering at the sight of her soft pink nipples puckering in the cool air of the apartment. To her taut stomach and the waistband of her yoga pants. "Because I do."

Still, somehow it felt like he was betraying Kinana. Being with another woman when she was the one who'd held his heart all this time. He jolted when Lucy's arms wrapped around him in a tender embrace and his head was pushed down to rest on her shoulder.

"I don't think anyone can replace your wife, Erik."

"Girlfriend," he whispered. "I was gonna propose after she had Viper." Kinana's fingers were swollen for most of her pregnancy, and Cobra hadn't wanted to give her a ring she couldn't wear. She'd known he was planning on proposing though. He'd never been able to keep a secret from her.

Lucy nodded and shifted so her lips could pucker on his hair. "I'm not trying to replace her though. And if you only want to be friends, then I'm okay with that."

"You're half-naked on my couch, and you tell me you're fine with 'just friends'?"

"If that's what you want," Lucy said with a shy laugh. "I've got a bad habit of putting everyone else before myself. Part of the reason I always end up in shitty relationships."

Cobra let out a slow breath, his arms winding around her. It was the first time in years someone had held him like this, the first time feeling a woman's flesh brushing against his own since he'd lost Kinana. He hadn't felt like this in a long ass time, like he was just a horny teenager ready to bang his girlfriend on the couch. There hadn't been any desire for it, not when Marie had taken up every bit of his life.

But, what Lucy had said earlier stuck with him. Maybe she had a point. Marie was growing up, and it was time to let himself just be a guy. Not just a father, and not just a professor at the university.

His head tilted just enough so he could gently kiss the flesh just under Lucy's collarbone. He moved down, inch by inch, placing soft, slow kisses in a line to the tip of her breast.

"E-Erik," Lucy whispered. "What are you-"

"Let me take you out on a real date sometime?" he asked, looking back up into her eyes with his lips hovering over her. "Dinner or whatever people do these days."

Lucy nodded as her cheeks flushed further. "I-I'd like that." She let out a quiet moan as his tongue slithered out and circled around her nipple. She arched into the pleasure, forcing his lips to close around her and ripping a sharp cry of arousal from her swollen lips.

His hands were everywhere, slow in their exploration of each bit of bared flesh he could get to. He kissed from one breast to the other, then brought the blonde to breathlessness in a flash as a hand stole down to cup her sex.

"O-Oh, Erik…"

He chuckled as Lucy's frantic hands pushed at the last of her clothing, and kissed his way down her stomach. He paused at the little piercing in her navel, a curved barbell with three golden stars hanging from the bottom ball, then pressed more kisses around the piercing before dipping lower.

The scent of rose bodywash floated on the air once Lucy had kicked her clothes off, and Cobra found himself feeling like the luckiest bastard in the world once he saw her spread out beneath him.

Even with just the flickering light from the television, playing some little kid's show with the volume still turned up, Lucy looked like a goddamn angel lying on his couch. He knew it had been way too long since he'd done this, and the fact that his cock was straining against the fabric of his pants, seemingly on a mission to tear through them and his boxers to get between her legs, was proof enough of that.

"You can skip the foreplay," Lucy whimpered.

"Hell no," he smirked, lowering his lips to her thigh. At his age, he needed the shit. Not because he couldn't perform without it, but because he refused to ruin his track record of feeling a woman convulsing around him. Whether it was his fingers, tongue, or dick, he wasn't going to stop until Lucy let loose.

"N-No, really," she gasped, her eyes widening as his tongue snaked out and danced along her slit. "I-It's okay. You don't… Oh god… Erik!"

Her hands grasped desperately at the fabric of the couch as two fingers speared into her and his lips surrounded her clit. Her moans grew in volume until she was letting out wanton, guttural sounds of pure pleasure.

Even though Lucy would have normally been self-conscious of the fact that she needed to shave her legs, or that her bikini line wasn't as well-kept and she needed to wax, she couldn't find it in herself to care while he kept working his magic between her legs. Even when Cobra started gently stroking her calf, where she was positive he could feel the light prickling of hair under his palm, he just didn't seem fazed by it.

Instead he seemed to be on a single-minded mission to turn her brain to mush. And damn it all to hell, it was working. Because Lucy always tried to keep herself relatively quiet during sex, but she couldn't stop the sounds that barreled past her lips. She tried not to be too clingy, but her hands and legs pulled Cobra closer. Lucy definitely never climaxed from foreplay. And yet, there she was, screaming her neighbor's name as her body tightened up and snapped, her back bowing from the couch. "E-Erik," she panted. "F-Fuck… You're…"

His fingers slowed to long, gentle strokes as her core continued spasming around them. His tongue moved from her sensitive bundle when her legs jumped at the slightest touch. When Cobra's eye finally opened and he looked up at Lucy, he found a small smile on his lips that matched hers. "Told you it's been awhile," he chuckled.

Lucy gulped as his fingers withdrew and he kissed a line up the center of her stomach. It was definitely surprising when he didn't kiss her lips though. And when she realized that he'd done it because he'd just been between her legs, Lucy giggled and wrenched Cobra's head down to slam his lips over hers.

Cobra groaned as her slender fingers began forcefully pushing his pants and boxers down. Really, he didn't need any prompting. Within seconds, the clothes were gone and he collapsed on top of the blonde in a frenzy that only grew the longer her lips and tongue teased him.

"Shit," Lucy rasped, feeling the velvety tip brushing across her sex. "Condom."

"Don't have any." Cobra drew back in an instant, his spine rigid. He was sure this was the universe's way of laughing at him for something he'd done wrong. It had to be. "Oh, just fucking kill me now…"

With a sly grin, Lucy reached down into her purse on the floor and pulled out a little foil packet. She giggled when it was snatched from her and his lips claimed hers once again. While she might not have been sexually active for the past three years, it didn't mean she left her apartment unprepared. She was more than thankful that she'd thought to put one in her purse that morning - especially since the one she'd thrown away was expired.

"You're a goddamn genius," Cobra whispered between kisses. He fumbled with the wrapper for a moment before finally tearing it open, then groaned as Lucy closed her hand around his shaft. "Oh, Jesus fucking Christ…"

"Mm," Lucy moaned, nipping at his lips. "How about Erik fucking Lucy, instead?" He smacked her hand away from his arousal to put on the condom, and Lucy felt the first stirrings of another orgasm tickling the edges of her sanity when he brushed the rubber-covered tip over her again. "N-No more teasing, sexy."

With a wicked grin, Cobra eased into her. Tight heat enveloped him, inch by devastatingly slow inch, until their hips were flush and grinding together. While it had been over a decade since he'd pleasured a woman, Cobra wasn't going to let go so easily. No matter how it felt having her wrapped around him, her fingers digging into his back, hearing her breathy pleas for him to fuck her into oblivion, this was going to be the best sex he'd ever had.

When Lucy rolled and tackled him onto the floor, upending the mostly empty popcorn bowl in the process and sending kernels flying everything, he knew it would be.

"God, Lucy… H-How are you moving like… _Nngh_ …"

She grinned as he grabbed her hips to help her move faster. "My secret, baby. Shit! Right there…"

* * *

Marie bit her lip while listening to the ringing on the line, casting Axel an apologetic glance as they sat in his car outside of the dance. Just a few minutes before midnight. Her eyes lit up when her father finally answered.

"Hey, sugar," Cobra said, his voice a little breathless.

"I'm checking in." Her lips turned down slightly when she heard him grunt. "Everything okay at home?"

"Huh? Oh… Y-Yeah, I'm fine… Shit…"

Marie could swear she heard a second voice in the background. "Well, um… If it's alright with you, I'm gonna stay out. Axel said he wants to take me to a diner down the road and eat too much ice cream to be healthy."

"Mmkay… Oh, for the love of… S-Sure, Viper."

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yep. Peachy k-keen…"

"So… it's okay for me to stay out?" she asked.

"As long as you want. Text me when you're coming h-holy... I-I mean, home... C-Coming home."

"Alright... Well, I love you, Papa."

"Love you, too. Bye, sugar."

"Bye, Pa-" Marie stared at the phone in bewilderment when the line cut off. Normally it was like pulling teeth to get her dad off the phone. "Well, that was weird."

"Maybe he's with his girlfriend," Axel chuckled. When Marie turned her confused frown toward him, he added, "The blonde lady that was helping you get ready?"

"That's our neighbor, Lucy," she said. "My dad doesn't date anyone."

Axel shrugged and put the car into gear. "I figured they were dating, since she wasn't wearing a whole lot of anything."

"Yeah," Marie sighed. "I'm still not sure why she was like that. But… My dad's painfully single. He doesn't even bother trying to find a girlfriend."

"That's how mom was after my dad left," Axel said softly. "I guess it's just not easy trying to move on when you really love someone."

Marie nodded and looked out the window at the passing scenery while Axel drove to the diner a few blocks away. "I just wish he'd get back out there. He's so lonely now…" She blushed and her head snapped back toward her date when his fingers gently brushed over the back of her hand.

"Who knows, Viper?" he chuckled. "Maybe you can set him up with your neighbor. She seemed pretty cool."

When he laced their fingers together, Marie's cheeks burned even brighter, but she still gave him a small smile. "I think I have a new mission, then," she laughed.

"Operation Daddy Date?" Axel asked.

"Hell yes," she giggled. Moments later, they pulled into the parking lot for the diner, and she waited as he turned off the car and made his way around to open her door. Hand in hand, the two teens walked inside, ready to eat way too much sugar and tease the hell out of each other for making stupid faces during a brain freeze.

* * *

"You're such an asshole," Cobra moaned, dropping the phone to the coffee table while bending over Lucy. His hands locked around her rocking hips, forcing her to stay still and stop fucking teasing him like she'd been doing while he was talking to his daughter. His hips surged forward at a relentless pace, pulling one keening cry after another from her, only muffled by where her face was pressed against the wooden tabletop.

The violent slapping of skin filled the air, broken up only by strings of curses and garbled moans. He just couldn't get enough of how Lucy felt writhing beneath him, or even when she'd been bouncing wildly on top of him. And thankfully, after all this time, his stamina hadn't waned.

By the time Cobra was grasping Lucy's shoulders and pulling her sweat-slicked body flush against his, she was barely able to stay upright. Her legs had long since turned to jelly, and her arms just didn't want to work with her. Still, her back arched so he could hit just the right spot that sent her spiralling higher and higher toward the clouds. Again.

Heaving breaths mingling, Cobra looked into Lucy's lust-hazed eyes and felt himself drawing nearer to his end. Just being like this, so close to her, feeling her fingers finally sinking into his hair once again, was enough to send his ass flying. Her breasts filling his hands and feeling her puckered nipples against his fingertips. But there was something more, and he knew it.

She'd brought back a piece of him that he'd thought was gone forever. This raw desire for another human being that burned in his gut and made his nerves light with renewed flames. A connection had formed between them, to what extent he wasn't entirely sure, but Cobra also knew that his brain was only half-functioning when he nearly said three words that had no business coming out of his mouth right then.

Lucy, on the other hand, was too far gone to stop herself.

"Erik," she panted. "I-I love you."

His body betrayed him in that moment as the tension rippling in the base of his spine exploded. "F-Fuck," he gasped as the first shot of his release pumped into the rubber. "Oh god… L-Lucy!"

Lucy's eyes rounded and rolled back as his hand shot between her legs to push her the last little bit over the edge and into bliss.

Head tipped forward and his lips parted on her shoulder, Cobra's eye clamped shut as wave after wave of euphoria wriggled under his skin. His arms tightened around her trembling body, pulling her back as he sat down on his heels. No way in hell was he leaving her delicious heat right then as it continued spasming around his softening member.

"Sh-Shit," Lucy moaned. "Erik…"

With a breathless laugh, he finally withdrew and pulled off the filled condom. He threw it into the empty pizza box that had been knocked on the floor when he'd decided to lay Lucy out over the table. She turned sideways in his lap, and he grinned while carefully lifting the blonde and settling back on the couch.

Before Cobra could say a thing, his lips were covered and he was tackled back onto the cushions. Luckily, Lucy's fuzzy damn blanket was still there, so at least he wouldn't have to worry about his sweaty ass messing up the furniture.

"Mm," Lucy moaned. She drew back with a gentle, lazy grin and brushed her nose across his. "Where the hell have you been all my life?"

"Apartment 2A," he smirked.

"Damn…" She sighed while getting more comfortable and resting her head just under his chin, a gentle smile on her lips when Cobra pulled a section of the blanket over the both of them. After several minutes of just letting their breathing return to normal, she winced. "Sorry, by the way."

"Hm?"

"Heat of the moment," Lucy admitted as his fingers started drawing lazy circles along her shoulder. "I, uh… didn't mean to say that. About love and all…"

"You're breaking my heart," he chuckled. "But I get it."

"... Yeah?"

"Sure," Cobra nodded. Once she peeked up at him through her lashes, he gave her an understanding smile. "I used to say it during sex. It's a habit."

Lucy nodded timidly, still embarrassed as hell that she'd said it in the first place. But he was right. She'd been much the same way with Loke, her first husband, and then with Jackal. Sex had always been about love for Lucy, all the way up until that very night where she'd decided to just go with it and bang her caramel-skinned neighbor.

Cobra's eye strayed to the clock to find it was a little after midnight. He wasn't sure when Marie would be home, but at least she would text him. That would give him time to get the place cleaned up. Still, as the blonde in his arms shifted and her fingers lightly traced over a scar on his shoulder, he realized that he really didn't want Lucy to go.

That was a bit problematic though, since he had no way to explain just why the neighbor was over at such an ungodly hour. How the hell was he supposed to tell his daughter just what the blonde was still doing at their apartment?

Still, he didn't want her to go, even if she lived less than ten damn feet away. Cobra was selfish and greedy as hell when he found something he liked. He'd been that way with Kinana, too, once they'd started dating. He wasn't possessive and controlling, but he just had a hard time letting go when the night was done.

That was part of the reason Kinana had gotten pregnant so soon into their relationship. Because the kind-hearted woman was an enabler when it came to cuddles.

This wasn't about Kinana though. She was always going to be a part of his life, and she'd always have a piece of his heart, but it was time for him to move on. And for that to happen, he needed to stop always thinking and comparing things to how they'd been in the past. Cobra had to live in the present, with the blonde in his arms.

"Lucy," he whispered. At her soft hum, his arms tightened around her slender frame. "Is it shitty of me to hope you're still too scared to go home just yet?"

Lucy laughed quietly and kissed his chest. "I'd actually forgotten why I came over in the first place," she said. "But… It's still probably pretty scary in my dark apartment."

Cobra nodded quickly. "Definitely too scary. So, you should, uh… Stay here and watch another movie with me."

"You need to sleep," she laughed. "You've got students to bring to tears and all that, right?"

"I won't sleep until Viper's home," he answered. "No matter how late."

The blonde bit her lip, then slowly looked up at him, to the flickering white and pink and blue light coming from the television while some ridiculous theme song with chipmunk voices and techno played in the background. "I guess… I could keep you company, if you'll be awake anyway."

A wide grin stretched across his lips, dimpling his cheeks, and Cobra reached over to pull the coffee table closer while Lucy sat up and grabbed the remote from the floor. Just before she was settled again, he shifted and pulled the blanket out from under his ass.

Lucy snuggled back into his arms, sighing happily as the blanket was draped over them fully. "Naked cuddling on the couch, huh?"

"Yep," Cobra said while flipping through the channels.

"I've never done this before…"

He finally selected a kids' movie he hadn't seen in a couple years, starring a giant green ogre and his wily, comic donkey friend, then tossed the remote on the table. With another gentle smile, he said, "Y'know… neither have I."

* * *

Marie waved to Axel as he walked down the steps and back toward his car, her hand sitting on the doorknob and ready to head inside. Her cheeks were still on fire from the soft kiss he's placed on her forehead. Everything had been perfect, even if she hadn't won Homecoming Queen, with the exception of dropping her phone in the toilet before they'd left the diner. It meant she couldn't text her father and let him know that she was coming home.

And really, she hoped he hadn't tried to stay up and wait for her to get back at nearly three in the morning. He had tons of work to do, and there was no need for him to push himself just for her sake. Still, Marie already knew he'd be awake. Sitting on the couch or at his desk, still grading papers, and probably still in his work clothes with a mostly cold cup of coffee he'd forgotten about by his hand.

She unlocked the door and went inside, a small frown turning down her lips when she saw a kid's movie playing on the television. Her dad never watched it unless they were spending time together. And in the event that he actually decided to sit down and watch something, the few times she'd caught him doing it, his program of choice was always some chemistry something-or-other. Always a documentary that had to do with his work.

But this… Her dad hated _Oliver & Company_.

"Papa?" she said softly while closing the door and locking it. He wasn't sitting at his desk in the corner, and all the lights were off. She couldn't see him sitting on the couch either, so maybe he'd gone to bed without turning off the television.

Except, he was a stickler about conserving energy and keeping their bills down - since it made it possible for them to splurge here and there without worrying about getting behind on the bills. He would have turned off the television.

Marie carefully pulled off her shoes and tiptoed through the living room, hissing almost silently when she stepped on something that bit into the bottom of her foot once she'd reached the couch.

The soft shuffle of fabric followed by a quiet sigh drew her attention, and Marie lifted her head only to gasp at the sight before her.

An unfamiliar black fleece blanket was draped haphazardly across the sofa, covering a small portion of pale skin tangled with rich caramel. Her dad's feet were at one end of the couch, oddly bare since he was always wearing socks. His feet were like ice cubes, so she understood. What threw her off, though, was the pair of smaller, lighter feet that were trying to cover his. Then the slender calves several shades lighter than his, more so from the deep maroon hairs that covered his legs.

Thankfully, the blanket was covering the most important parts, because the next thing Marie saw was the side of a large breast, her dad's arms wound around a petite body. A head of blonde hair lying on his chest, slowly rising and falling in time with his steady breaths.

Marie choked when the two adults on the couch shifted, first her father, then the blonde woman whose head turned to reveal a familiar face she hadn't expected to see. Once they were settled again, the universe decided her corneas were no longer a necessity as the blanket slid down and pooled on the floor.

She never wanted to see her father's thighs. Or hips. Or anything else. And she couldn't have been happier that their neighbor, who was equally naked, was lying on top of her dad. She could stand seeing Lucy's ass, but the unknown abyss that rested between her father's legs would forever stay that way where the teen was concerned.

' _Not enough therapy in the world if I saw his… Oh, ew… What the hell were they doing?!'_

It was obvious they were asleep, and as Marie took another step, she jumped when there was another sharp bite in the bottom of her bare foot. Her gaze shifted across the room, and her jaw dropped when she saw the utter anarchy their living room had turned into.

An overturned popcorn bowl with kernels littering the floor. That explained what she kept fucking stepping on. Two coffee mugs, both empty and turned on their sides. A platter of cookies, mostly untouched. A pizza box on the floor, the lid open, and…

"Ew," Marie whimpered, trembling in horror at the sight of a thin bit of rubber bunched up in the box. "Ew, ew, ew…"

She turned back toward the pair slumbering on the couch and finally saw the half-eaten cookie in Lucy's hand, resting on her dad's chest. And crumbs on both of their lips.

Her hands shook and her stomach turned while she reached down to grab the blanket with her thumb and forefinger. As far as she was concerned, it was contaminated with god only knew what.

' _Like dad-sex germs… Oh my god…'_

Marie gently placed the blanket over them, then found herself smiling down at her dad. Even though he was going to give her nightmares with this shit, she still loved him. And he looked so damn peaceful with Lucy in his arms.

The last time she'd found him asleep on the couch had been a year ago, after he'd stayed up for too long and passed out from exhaustion with dried tears on his cheek. Granted, she understood the crying - even though he'd made sure she hadn't seen it happening - because he did the same thing every year, the day before her birthday.

Marie never blamed him for it either. He was always a bucket of smiles on her birthday, and she understood that it hurt him to a point to not have her mom there. That day was a reminder of what he'd lost, what they'd both lost.

But it was clear that he was finally starting to move on, and she couldn't have been happier about it.

"It's about time, Papa," Marie whispered. She pulled the blanket a little higher on Lucy's shoulders, then carefully pried the cookie from her neighbor's hand and set it on the table. "Goodnight."

Without another word, Marie tiptoed to her bedroom and silently changed out of her dress and into a pair of pajamas. Flannel pants and a large shirt that she'd stolen from her dad's closet a few years prior with a king cobra printed on the front. She took her phone and placed both the battery and the casing on her nightstand. Hopefully, it would work in the morning.

As she laid in bed and closed her eyes, after going to the bathroom and removing her makeup, Marie found herself smiling. Operation Daddy Date was a success already, and she hadn't needed to do a thing.

* * *

The scent of coffee, strong and fresh, swirled in his nostrils along with roses and a light dusting of sweat. The weight lying on top of him, familiar only in the fact that he'd felt it before, tried lulling Cobra back to sleep. It was comforting, though. And soft. So, so soft.

"Papa…"

Cobra's lips pursed, and he rolled onto his side, dragging the pseudo-pillow with him. A slender finger pushed against his cheek, then his forehead. And finally, his only working eyelid was pulled open so he could see his daughter leaning over the back of the couch.

"Papa, this is a first," Marie said quietly. "I'm not entirely sure what the protocol is here, so…"

Cobra looked down to the woman in his arms, the night before rushing back in an instant as Lucy started waking up. Her tired, honey eyes fluttered open, barely a crack while she gave him a small, sleepy smile.

"Um, do you and Lucy want me to make pancakes?" Marie asked.

Lucy's eyes shot open, and her cracking morning voice squeaked in the back of her throat. Face flushed with embarrassment, she still tried to shrink further into the couch.

Marie giggled quietly and stood back up. "Well, I'll just make breakfast while you guys get up. Coffee's on the table."

"V-Viper, it's um…" Cobra sputtered. "I-It's not… N-Not, uh…"

"Cream and sugar are with it," Marie called out from the kitchen, a secretive smile on her lips. It was more than funny to see her dad so flustered.

Cobra sat up, with Lucy sitting up beside him and pulling the blanket up to keep her breasts covered. "Oh god," she whimpered. "E-Erik, um…"

He shook his head and stared at the cleaned up living room, forcing himself to think back to the night before again. Past what he and Lucy had done. To the two of them watching a second movie. How they'd started feeding each other chocolate chip cookies, and acting like fucking morons, just because they could. And because it was fun.

He could still admit that he'd had a damn blast with her, and he loved how it felt when she'd started falling asleep on him. Then again, he'd been passing right the hell out too. He was a goner as soon as the blonde had decided to stay and watch a movie. If anything, he would have just asked her to come to bed with him. After so long without getting to hold a woman, he was sure it was just his own subconscious way of catching the hell up.

But Lucy would most likely have thought he was clingy if he'd done that.

' _Damn… All this awkward dating shit again… Why the hell did I agree to this?!'_

He looked back at Lucy, and found her face a bright cherry red between her fingers. At that moment, Cobra just couldn't find it in himself to really care about how embarrassing it was for his daughter to find him on the couch, naked as hell, with their neighbor.

Slowly, his arm snaked around her waist, and he grinned when she turned to look at him only for her lips to be captured in a gentle caress. He could feel her desire still there, in the supple lips that firmed from being slack in surprise. Her hand as it lifted and trailed up the length of his jaw to lightly toy with the golden hoop of his earring.

"So," Cobra whispered. "How do you feel about pancakes?"

"Pancakes are, um…" Lucy gasped as he captured her lips again and his free hand slid across her stomach beneath the blanket, just under her breasts. "I-I like pancakes."

Marie stuck her head through the archway that led to the kitchen, a sly grin pulling up the corners of her mouth when she saw her dad kissing Lucy. "By the way," she called out. The way they broke apart from each other in an instant had her fighting not to laugh. "While I'm glad to see you kids were responsible, could you maybe put the evidence in the trash can next time?"

As one, Cobra and Lucy looked at the pizza box on the floor. Right where it had been the night before. Everything else in the room had been picked up, the table cleaned and the popcorn kernels that had littered the floor gone - courtesy of their automated vacuum robot that Cobra still hated. But the box, with its greasy cardboard stains was open, revealing only small bits of leftover meat and cheese, and a used condom.

"That was just…" Marie shook her head while going back into the kitchen. "Ew."

"Kill me now," Lucy whispered.

"After pancakes," Cobra nodded. "Viper makes _amazing_ pancakes."

"I'm not picking that fucking box up, Papa!" she shouted while pouring batter onto the griddle. "Clean up my siblings before you kill each other!"

"Marie," he groaned. "Who's the fucking parent here?"

"I would say you, but… I came home to find you naked with a lady. I'm clearly the parent now."

"Goddamnit," he sighed, flopping back onto the couch and dragging a giggling blonde with him. He cast Lucy a half-hearted glare. "What are _you_ laughing about?" he pouted.

"You and Marie are so adorable," Lucy whispered. She rolled onto her side to lay a little more comfortably, propped up on one elbow and looking down into his single eye.

"Guess you're fine with the dad thing, then," he smirked.

"Definitely," she nodded. "Dad's are super sexy."

Cobra rolled his eye, still smiling as Lucy planted a gentle kiss on the corner of his lips. "I think a shower's in order," he whispered.

"Should I go back home for that?"

"No," he chuckled. "I'm keeping you."

"Forever?" Lucy grinned. Her blush deepened when his arms wound around her and his lips sought hers out once again.

"Guess we'll have to wait and see, beautiful," he whispered, letting out a quiet groan of approval when Lucy's fingers tangled in his hair.

"Breakfast is ready," Marie said while setting the table. "Come… Oh, you're still kissing. Alright then, I'll just watch from over here."

Cobra and Lucy pulled back, their eyes wide for a moment as they looked over the arm of the couch to see Marie staring down at them with what had to be, hands down, the creepiest little smile they'd ever seen.

Neither of them could hold in their laughter at that point, though. And soon, Marie was joining in while grabbing their clothes from the floor and setting everything on the coffee table.

Just before Lucy sat up, Cobra realized that he loved this feeling. Holding someone close and just enjoying the little moments again. It had been a long time since he'd felt anything like this, but he was definitely welcoming this warmth blooming in his chest with open fucking arms. And he couldn't have been happier that in those open arms was a beautiful blonde who would - he'd eventually come to realize - give him a lifetime of laughter, another daughter, and more happiness than he'd ever imagined possible.

 _ **.The End.**_

* * *

 **The horror movie that Cobra and Lucy watched is based on a real film that recently came out. Rob Zombie's _31_. I haven't seen it yet, but it looks like a pretty good thriller with lots of gore, so I just kinda winged it.**


End file.
